I am a former EUROCONTROL software analyst-programmer in Flight Plan Processing at Karlsruhe UIR control center Karlsruhe with operational responsibility of maintenance and enhancement 1992 - 1997. My experience is in large systems also outside the ATC area. Systems psychology and human computer interaction areas are of special interest to me and I have taught in these areas at Istanbul Yeditepe University computer department.

In contrast to these classical
theories, our attentional sensitization model of unconscious information
processing proposes that unconscious processing is susceptible to executive
control and is only elicited if the cognitive system is configured accordingly.

executive control influences on
unconscious cognition in the domains of visuo-motor and semantic processing:
subliminal priming depends on attentional resources, is susceptible to stimulus
expectations and is influenced by action intentions and task sets.

Demands on conscious executive control would
be increased, because the intended action could only be ensured by inhibiting
numerous interfering response tendencies induced by unconscious information
processing (Botvinick et al., 2001)

Neumann (1990) proposes in his theory of direct parameter specification (DPS) that
unconscious information will only be processed and will influence the motor
response to a target stimulus to the extent that it matches current intentions.

Hence, the attentional
sensitizing mechanism is thought to gradually enhance and attenuate stimulus
processing irrespective of whether the stimulus is consciously perceived or not
(Kiefer and Martens, 2010).

Preemptive control, in which
top-down influences are initiated in advance of stimulus presentation, can be
exerted for both conscious and unconscious stimulus presentation, whereas only
consciously perceived stimuli are susceptible to reactive control in response
to ongoing or completed stimulus processing (Ansorge and Horstmann, 2007; Kiefer, 2007; Ansorge et al., 2009, 2011a; Kiefer and Martens, 2010).

Executive control of unconscious
information processing cannot be exerted intentionally in anticipation or
response to subliminal stimuli themselves because individuals are not aware of
them by definition.

However, as executive control in
the unconscious domain is preemptive, subliminal stimuli that trigger or modify
cognitive control settings must be presented before the unconscious process of
interest is elicited (e.g., by a subliminal prime).

Thus, according to the
attentional sensitization model conscious stimulus processing, which is
traditionally considered to be “strategic,” allows for a greater adaptability
and flexibility of executive control.